Let me preface this by saying I was always opposed to keystones not depleting. I was wrong. Blizzard have got resilient right, except for one thing. Resi keys need to start at a lower key level.
A few benefits to resilient keys that I didn’t really think about ahead of time:
Resi keys are really chill. There’s no pressure. You either time it and get a different key at a higher level, over time it and get a different key at the same level, or give up and start again with the same key.
If someone gets DCed or their game crashes or you wipe to a bug, you start again and you’ve only wasted a bit of time. (Fix the bugs, Blizzard. We still don’t like wiping to bugs that have existed since Shadowlands; we just flame you a bit less for them now.)
It’s easier to get into a +12 as a non-meta dps than it is to get into a +11. Most people with resi keys are more willing to “take a chance” on a non-meta spec or a player with a bit lower gear or IO score. There isn’t the pressure to fill your key with overgeared, overqualified people on meta specs in the hope that it won’t get depleted.
Players are much more confident when it comes to listing their own key because it can’t deplete.
Resilient keys are great. They would be even better if they started at a lower level. I’d suggest +8 (but I wouldn’t complain if all key levels were resilient, from +3 upwards).
Having the means to “lock” keys at any level from +8 would make players much more inclined to run keys at +9 and +11 to lock theirs at that level. The dead spots at those levels where dps players struggle to fill their own keys would be reduced.
It would also give players who aren’t skilled enough to get to +12 and push from there the opportunity to lock their keys at a level they’re comfortable with, and then push.
Overall, I think resilient keys have resulted in healthy changes in the M+ community, and having them start at a lower level would only expand on that.
At this point I will actually agree with the camp that says to abolish the key system entirely and let people enter the instance the want at the difficulty they want similar to delves. But I would add a Call-To-Arms buff for instances that are run less frequently, since it’s natural that most people would select to run the “easier”/faster instances.
I have always been a depletion hater (big ups the other two people), but I don’t see how this would help.
My VDH got all +10 timed a few days ago (already had 3/8) and I was getting invited when my best key for a dungeon was +6 in some cases. So he skipped +9.
He isn’t even linked to this character, people are desperate. If my +10 was unbreakable I would never join anyone’s group. Which would be great for me but it wouldn’t be great for the 2 million DPS players whose keys I join per week.
That said I do think more changes are coming. I wouldn’t even play this game if I had to list my own key as DPS only for a healer to stand in a frontal and leave.
The dead spot at those levels exists because there is no reward for doing keys of that range. In other words, M+ needs either another squish, or more relaxed rewards like in DF S4.
Other than that, I agree. Keys should start becoming resilient one level earlier. It gets rid of a whole bag of issues currently present in M+.
What was the purpose of implementing Resilient keys in the first place? What was Blizzard trying to solve?
They were trying to alleviate the burden of “homework keys”. Which is a concept that only exists in keys 12+ and above. And they succeed in that.
The question now is:
Do keys bellow +12 have homework keys? No they don’t. So. What would resilient keys solve exactly?
In addition. Resilient keys falls under the category of rewards. Like portals, or the 3k mount. Or KSM. You cant keep pushing rewards lower and lower down. It makes no sense.
IMO the only change resilient keys need is to make them per dungeon. Not ALL keys at +12. Then it would be PERFECT.
I just think it needs to change a little, if it’s aimed for practice groups.
Done all 12s? Then you can’t drop below 13 (as that’s what you now aim to tackle). All done on 13s? Can’t drop below 14 (as that’s the new level to tackle), and so forth.
Honestly, I would find this incredibly boring, as I find delves boring. There’s no feeling of achievement and progression.
Well, yeah, he’s a tank, and the meta tank at that. Of course you were getting invites easily. I get invites easily on my guardian druid and prot pala as well. My 1k BM hunter gets declined for everything even with my 3k dps main linked.
There is a reward. The reward is getting the keys timed at that level, which increases the chance of getting invited into the next level.
This idea that people only run keys for “rewards” is hogwash. My friends and I are perma capped on crests, need nothing at hero track, and we still overcap our vaults every week.
Why? Because M+ is a progression system. It isn’t about gear, crests, mounts, etc.
They were trying to give players something they were asking for, which was keys that don’t deplete, in a way that was reasonable. Nothing to do with “homework keys”… whatever that’s even supposed to mean. (I have no clue.)
They fall under the category of making the game feel better to play. Rewards are where the game ends, resilient keys are where the game starts.
Yeah but I’m saying it in context of all the other stuff I said. The people who need their +9 pushed can’t push it without a tank and tanks as bad as my VDH can skip +9 in the current system. Being meta doesn’t mean you stop letting everything hit you in the back and having your first resort being going into Last Resort right after the key starts.
I’m not sure it would better for the game as a whole if my key never depleted. I do want it for me though.
Although maybe I would just spam join +9 for Crests and to help people push their own key.
If they start lower everyone will just abuse it for their alts which does not always matter, but sometimes it actually does, anyway i do not think it matters this late into season, when you can literally carry in a +10 and +11 key probably a +12 as well.